HOTEL CALIFORNIA

HOTEL CALIFORNIA

Theatre : Aluva Matha
Showtime & Date : 6.15pm, 04-05-2013
Status : Balcony about 25%+, FC 15-20%
Aji John after Nallavan joins with Anoop Menon-Jayasurya combo mainly banking on Trivandrum Lodge effect in new movie HOTEL CALIFORNIA

Story
I'm copying this part from INDIAGLITZ review as there are so many characters I forgot the names

It moves through the lives of many persons with the common link being a 'pushpak' flight from Mumbai to Kochy. It has on its board, Roshan (Krishna), the personal body guard of a Bollywood superstar, who is carrying the latter's  sperm to be delivered to Kamala Nambiar, who wants to deliver a child without the real physical interference of any male.  In the same flight is Aby Mathew(Shankar), a rich flirting businessman, who is ready to have a day out with a television star of his dreams ,Swapna Joseph(Dhwani). Tarun Singh(Saiju Kurup), the son of a politician convicted in 5G scam, is flying down to kochy to meet his online girl friend. And on the same flight' is his look-alike Rafeeq Ahamed(again Saiju Kurup), a poor NRI who is working as a 'carrier fly', carrying the pirated copy of yet to be released film of Supreme Star Premsagar (Anoop Menon), titled as ' Hotel California'. Outside the airport waiting for them is another big group starting from a bunch of self-procalimed terrorists lead by Nandulal to the local conman Airpot Gimmy(Jayasuriya) , who all needs to make money out of each of the deals offered by the men on the  plane.


Performances
Jayasurya repeats his Cocktail role even in dialogue delivery & costumes. If he was given comical shade the movie would have been much more entertaining. Anoop Menon once again repeats his trademark do-gooder clean man role once again. Shankar was funny with awesome BGM "Njanoru Vedan". Nandulal once again imitates Jagathy Sreekumar & fails wonderfully. P Balachandran was repetitive. Saiju Kurup was impressive & good. His hindi accent was awesome. His Rafeeq role was too innocent & realistic. Sukumari was good. Manikuttan was wasted. Sudheesh was fine in his limited role. Narayanankutty, Krishna, TV comedy stars were fine. Female artists had nothing much to do.

Here comes the show stealer JOJU GEORGE as BHARATHCHANDRAN IPS, the police commissioner. He made the scenes he appeared a scream with awesome expressions & dialogues. Awesome Work. Another comedy actor in the making.

Songs & BGM
Only one song, a rehashed version of "Anthimaanam" song from movie Chukkan.
BGM was another star of the movie - AWESOME work by Shaan Rahman. The best one was NJANORU VEDAN BGM for Shankar.

Technical
Cinematography by Jeethu Damodar was good. Editing could have been better. Art Direction was good.

Script & Direction
Story of the movie was a kind of old Priyadarsan movie - lots of confusions and interchange. A great plot to become a blockbuster stuff. But sadly script by Anoop Menon lacked the punch & funny elements at many parts to be a comedy movie. Many scenes were forced & many characters were created with confusions in writing itself I hope. Don't know what was Jayasurya's role to be - comic or serious or criminal??? If made into a full length comic one, movie would have taken a U turn to positive note. Dialogues were funny, mainly for Joju & Shankar. Many dialogues could have been avoided so that the movie would have been a clean family entertainer. Better luck next time.

Aji John after Nallavan once again proved direction is not his cup of tea. A director like Priyadarsan or Shafi would have taken this to a great entertainer. Aji  mainly focused on visuals rather than flow of the film. Screenplay saved the part to a great extent there. First half was dull with no much comic elements other than Joju's. Second half was far better with Joju & Shankar rocking. Still the movie fails to reach an average + status due to bad direction.

A movie like this need 3 things in my opinion - an entertaining script, good actors and a good director. In most parts, all three fails. When all works, its for Joju and Shankar parts only too. Rest was like 2-0 or 1-0.

Verdict : Timepass, if you go with zero expectation
BO Verdict : Average to flop

Anybody can try to be a Priyadarsan, but to compete with Priyadarsan one should become another Priyadarsan. Luckily or unluckily there is only one PRIYADARSAN. This film clearly proves how talented director Priyadarsan is once again to handle such plots in such a simple way and making big hits. If the script was given to Priyadarsan may be this year's blockbuster would have been this with his selection of starcast

Nandulal, please stop imitating Jagathy Sreekumar. In this movie you did the role which Jagathy did a hundred times. If the same was done by Jagathy even if again a hundred times again it won't make us feel bore, thats JAGATHY SREEKUMAR.

MUMBAI POLICE

MUMBAI POLICE

Theatre :Aluva Zeenath Screen 1
Showtime & Date : 3.00pm, 04-05-2013
Status: Balcony 45%, FC 75%

Rosshan Andrrews-Bobby-Sanjay team is back after the disaster Cassanova with Mumbai Police, a thriller genre one

 
Story
Antony Mosses IPS, ACP(Prithviraj) mets with an accident when he was about to reveal the culprit of Aryan John ACP(Jayasurya) murder case to Commissioner Farhan(Rahman).After accident Antony had memory loss & he tries to solve the case once again is the rest.

Performances
Prithviraj as Antony Mosses post accident episode was good but in the past episode, he was artificial. In looks too he was not at his best when compared to his previous police roles. Rahman was good while Jayasurya was ok only, especially in parade scenes he lacks the police finese in looks & actions. Rest of the cast had nothing much to do though Kunjan had a scene to score which was an unwanted scene in the movie. Riyaz Khan in his cameo impresses.

Songs & BGM
No songs in the movie. Is it the same Gopi Sundar who impressed us with many awesome BG scores. His worst work in recent times.

Technical
Cinematography was fine. Editing could have been better a lot. Art Direction was fine. Action choreography was good.

Script & DirectionIs this the same Bobby-Sanjay team who gave us TRAFFIC. The storyline was a good one but the screenplay was in a confused state I hope like whether tto make in non linear or linear in a stretch especially flashback episode and whether to make it a forcefully made newgen theme. Script had a lot of unwanted scenes which had nothing to do with proceedings of the story. Interval block was a simple one which makes no interest. Many good scenes were conveyed through dialogues and bad ones were made into scenes. Overall an average work on script by the team.

Rosshan Andrrews did his part but direction lacked thrill. These type of films need thrills at regular intervals to keep audience engaging till climax. Like a sensex graph the pace of the film goes up & down at regular intervals. The film deserved a Joshiy style of approach. The hollywood standard adapted definitely won't work with the starcast & the theme in malayalam cinema.

Verdict : Average(at max)
BO Verdict : Flop

AMEN

AMEN

Theatre : Aluva Madhurya
Showtime & Date : 11.30am, 07-04-2013
Status : 45%
AMEN, the third movie by LIJO JOSE PALLISSERY who created NAYAKAN & CITY OF GOD before, is turning out to be a serious threat to malayalam movie makers. Lets see HOW

Story
Its as old as a hill storyline : Poor hero, Rich heroine, Heroine's relatives & others as villains. How they unite. Difference is the story is happening in  60s/70s. Solomon(Fahad Fazil) is in love with Sosanna(Swathy) though her father and brother are against this. Solomon wants to be part of band team run by the chruch. But he couldn't. Then comes Fr.Vincent Vattoly(Indrajith) as priest to the church. Watch the rest on screen.

Performances
Fahad Fazil as Solomon was good with his trademark innocent smile which we saw in Annayum Rasoolum this year. Indrajith as Vincent Vattoly was effective. Swathy steals the scenes in which she appear. Anil Murali as in every Lijo Jose movie was superb. Nandulal though good, reminds us Jagathy Sreekumar. Sudheer Karamana was typical. Sunil Sugatha was apt, Rachana was fine. Kalabhavan Mani reminds us Thilakan in his role. He did it well.

It is the rest of the supporting cast which makes the show entertaining with their fresh faces and performances.

Songs & BGM
Songs fitted perfectly to the treatment of the movie. BGM was top class. Prashanth Pillai did a good job.

Technical
Cinematographer Abhinandan Ramanujam makes the movie an experience with his work. Kuttanad was picturied in a mesmerising way. Top angle camera works were awesome in lake shots. Editing was good though final band competition & second half at parts lags. Art Direction, though good lacked perfection especially flexes and other things towards climax parts.

Script & Direction
Story by Lijo was a cliched one. Its the screenplay by P S Rafeeq makes it different. Dialogues by Lijo & Rafeeq could have been a bit more better atleast in certain scenes as it does not fit well to the mood and scene. Second half was a bit lagging and predictable one with lengthy proceedings. Could have been better.

It is direction by Lijo Jose Pallissery that takes the movie from pass mark level to A grade. In his first movie NAYAKAN itself he proved his approach in making cliched scenes a different one. In this one, it was evident in each frame amply supported by cinematographer. EXCELLENT FIRST HALF and a GOOD SECOND HALF DIRECTION


Overall an entertaining movie that can be watched for the director's craft

Verdict : Director's movie
BO Verdict : HIT

Coming to the opening line, how Lijo becomes a threat to Malayalam movie makers. 90% of Malayalam movie makers including debutants tries to make movies for audience and tries to make it a hit with the formula created by predecessors enjoyed by audience before. Lijo takes it other way. He makes movie from his point of view and make it liked by all. So movie makers and future movie makers out there, remember, this director is setting standards on how to approach a scene eventhough a cliched one and make it appealing to all. You people have to work hard more to satisfy audience from now on.

IMMANUEL

IMMANUEL

Theatre : Aluva Matha
Showtime & Date : 6.15pm, 06-04-2013
Status : Balcony Almost FULL, Fc 30%+

First of all, special thanks to SIFY website which gave verdict for this movie as AVERAGE in their website.

After "Puramkazhchakal" episode in KERALA CAFE, Mammootty and LalJose joins together for a new movie IMMANUEL scripted by newcomer Vijeesh A C. Is this movie an average one only a SIFY rated??? Or is it below that?? Or ....???? Lets see

Story
Immanuel(Mammootty) a good kindhearted man with wife & a son Robin, loses his job in his publishing house as Josephettan(Sunil Sugatha) had a lot of debt. To survive, he joins a Life Insurance Company. Rest is his life there & about his good heart.

Performances
Mammootty-that may be the only name, even a debutant director too will think for this role. Tailor made one which he performed, sorry lived on screen. What to tell more especially about his voice modulation in certain scenes.

Fahadh Fazil in his brief role was fine. Reena Mathews(Is she the one who played Chakky aka Nisha Varghese in DECEMBER MIST, the telefilm) was fine. The kid who played Robin was good. Mukesh, Innocent, Devan, Salimkumar, Ramesh Pisharady, Anil Murali, Bijukuttan all in their limited screenspace was good.  Suni Sugathan was superb in his role as Josephettan.

Sukumari made her final role an emotional one with a fantastic final dialogue.


Songs & BGM
Both departments handled by Afsal Yusuf. Immanuel title song was good. Rest were ok. BGM had a GopiSundar touch in initial sequences, later it was fine.

Technical
Art Direction needs special mention. Cinematography & Editing were apt.

Script & Direction
Script by debutant Vijeesh A C needs mention. Story was a cliched one only. But screenplay was refreshing one. Dialogues were the main plus point of the movie - simple but powerfull and hard hitting. Though Mukta episode in second half was a lengthy one in second half, later it managed. Also mentioning newgen as villains through Salimkumar also could have been avoided. Though predictable things only, overall a good work. I think script writer worked in an insurance company before, good homework on script was evident.

LAL JOSE - the master craftsman. An ordinary script when comes through the frames of LAL JOSE will be something welcomed and loved by all kinds of audience. That MAGIC worked here may be to a great level. EXCELLENT WORK

THERE IS AN IMMANUEL IN EACH ONE OF US. WATCH THE MOVIE & REALISE OUR MISTAKES & BE ANOTHER IMMANUEL ATLEAST AT TIMES, GOD BLESS!!!
Verdict : Very Good
BO Verdict : Nalla Cinemaye ishtappedunnavar ee moviede koode

Tears of happiness can be experienced in many scenes.

Coming to SIFY matter mentioned in the beginning. I think the person who wrote the review was a kind of person which Fahad enacted in the movie. I think he/she watched the movie and reviewed it as part of her job mentioning only Fahad as a positive factor. Mr/Miss/Mrs REVIEWER, please understand that people watching movie in theatres are not watching it for the sake of it like you did. Kerala Audience are still the same old audience who always welcomes these good movies.

3 DOTS

3 DOTS
 
Theatre : Aluva Zeenath Screen 1
Showtime & Date : 6.15pm, 22-03-2013
Status : Balcony Full, FC 70%

Kunchacko Boban-Biju Menon team joins again after the first hit of this year ROMANS along with the director of ORDINARY - the blockbuster of last year which made the combo a magic one. So will they repeat the magic of ORDINARY in box office??? Lets see

Story
Vishnu(Kunchacko Boban) is a petty thief stealing mobile phones, Louiy(Biju Menon) a goon and Pappan aka Pappettan(Prathap Pothen) meets at jail. After the counselling programme by Dr.Issac(Narein), they decided to start a new life after releasing from jail. Vishnu & Louiy goes to Pappan's flat and there they starts a new life. Vishnu is now a private ambulance driver & Louiy and Pappan runs a kindergarten with the help of Dr.Issac. Their life changes when they involve to solve Dr.Issac's problem. Watch the rest on screen.

Performances
Kunchacko Boban as Vishnu has delivered a smart performance. His intro scene was stylish to the core. As usual, the romantic scenes featuring Chackochan was a treat to watch. Climax protions belongs to him. Once again his chemistry with Biju Menon works in many scenes. Biju Menon has got a good set of oneliners this time too though his performance was dull at parts especially in second half. Pratap Pothen was good as Pappettan especially his scenes in flat and gestures were funny. Narein got a good role but failed to raise to the level except in climax action sequence. Heroines had nothing much to do. Rest of the cast did their part well.

Songs & BGM
Vidyasagar was not in good form this time though the theme music and the song version was fine. Kannil Kannil is the pick of the lot. Songs were picturised very well with smart visuals. BGM was fine.

Technical
Art Director Suresh Kollam and Cinematographer Faisal Ali are the show stealers here. Awesome work by both. Editing by V Saajan was good in first half but needs trimming in second half.

Script & Direction
Story by director Sugeeth is as old as hill plot only - a rehashed version of Ramji Rao Speaking & tamil movie SA-RO-JA. Screenplay & Dialogues by Rajesh Raghavan was entertaining in first half though no major story started in first half. Not a single dull moment in first half. Second half moves in a predictable way and once Narein's plot starts the movie starts lagging. Still the climax was entertaining though predictable. Direction by Sugeeth had a fresh approach especially in first half. The way the characters were introduced and till Interval portion was visual treat. Romantic scenes were taken in a beautiful manner - with close up shots and slow motion with apt BGM. Second half faced the problem of lagging for audience due to predictability and lengthy scenes of Narein. Climax was well executed.

On the whole a good first half & tads above average second half with a fine climax

Verdict : Above Average
BO Verdict : Hit

The movie is a perfect vacation entertainer but chances for another ORDINARY show in box office is less.

Once again Kunchacko Boban-Biju Menon combo is encashed in many scenes, the title sequences is the best example for their chemistry

BLACK BUTTERFLY

BLACK BUTTERFLY

Theatre : Aluva Zeenath Screen 1
Showtime & Date : 11.35am, 17-02-2013
Status : Balcony Good status, FC around 45 people

BLACK BUTTERFLY is the official remake of acclaimed tamil movie VAZHAKKU EN 18/9 by Balaji Sakthivel. Whether it works in Malayalam??? Lets see

Story
Movie begins with a bad incident & the investigation leads to 2 stories - Its Benny's story on pre interval & Aarathy's on post interval part - both linked well & ended up with a hard hitting yet the most loving climax we need eventhough we have seen 1000 times & still we love to see.

Performances
Don't know the name of all 4 newfaces - all performed well. Ganapathy was cool. Janardhanan was fine. Manianpillai Raju had a scene to score well. Sithara was artificial in Bhagyalakshmi's dubbing. Nelson rocked in single scene. Rest of the cast were apt & delivered a realistic performance especially the policeman was good with Shammy Thilakan's effective dubbing.

Songs & BGM
No songs were there in the movie though situations were there a lot. Good & Bold decision by the makers.

HERE COMES THE SOUL OF THE MOVIE - BGM BY GOPI SUNDAR. When it comes to BGM, he's the Ilaiyaraja and Yuvan Sankar Raja of Malayalam Cinema, another Johnson mash on the way. May be we have Shyam, Rajamani & many others. But those BGMs were remebered for the heroic scenes. But for me, its GOPI SUNDAR who took us to a different level even if its a sentimental scene or romantic scene or whatever. HATS OFF GOPI SUNDAR!!! Waiting for the release of BGMs in SOUND CLOUD very soon

Technical
Cinematography had some nice moments. Alagappan did a good job. Editing by Saajan was apt. Art by GokulDas disappoints a bit.

Script & Direction
Though credits of story was given to Balaji Sakthivel, screenplay also deserves credit for him though rewritten by J Pallassery wirh malayalam dialogues. Dialogues were a bit artificial in initial few scenes but rocked towards climax.

Direction by debutant M Renjith needs special mention. We won't feel like a debutant did this. Awesome work. Second half was more racy than first half. Climax [portions were well concieved.

On the whole, a movie for Society TODAY for the future of TODAY's & TOMORROW's GENERATION

Verdict : WHAT I SHOULD SAY!!! VERY GOOD, EXCELLENT,AWESOME, GO FOR IT, MUST WATCH, DON'T MISS IT????? I DON'T KNOW. WATCH THE MOVIE & COME OUT OF THEATRE WITH A TINGE OF TEARS IN YOUR EYES - WHICH HAS FLAVOURS OF LOVE HOPE HAPPINESS PAIN.....

BO Verdict : Deserves a SUPER HIT

TERRIFIC CLAPS AFTER THE SHOW

CELLULOID

CELLULOID

Theatre : Aluva Zeenath Screen 1
Showtime & Date : 6.15pm, 16-02-2013
Status : Balcony No Idea, FC 25%

CELLULOID is the unknown story of father of MALAYALAM CINEMA.

Story
Its the story of J C Daniel(Prithviraj) & his lifestory from 1928-1979, the difficulties he faced to make VIGATHAKUMARAN(first malayalam cinema), his life after that.

Performances
Prithviraj as J C Daniel & his son Harris has done a decent job. As J C Daniel in first half, his Trivandrum slang & certain scenes were a bit artificial. In second half, he maintained the slang & modulation well. As Harris, in climax scene he was good. Sreenivasan once again proved why he is still there in Malayalam Cinema. There are a set of dialogues which Sreenivasan alone can make audience clap. T G Ravi was superb in his single crying scene who played old age character played by his real life son Sreejith Ravi. The CINEMALA member as the actor in movie was nice. Ramesh Pisharady made us laugh with "AYYO ENGLISH". Mamta was fine.She too faced the slang problem, may be more than Prithviraj.  Siddhique.Jayan, Chembil Ashokan...all supporting cast were apt.

Its CHANDNI who played Rosi stealed the show though she was not even mentioned in climax portions(could have been done that).

Songs & BGM
Songs fits well to the movie. Thanks to the superb modulation of singers. BGM was fine. Could have been a lot better for a movie like this.

Technical
Awesome crew I should say. Makeup by Pattanam Rasheed & Costumes by S B Satheesan needs special mention. Cinematography by Venu was superb. Editing was apt. Art direction definitely needs an appreciation. The whole crew's hardwork was seen in every frame.

Script & Direction
Both departments handled by Kamal. Script by Kamal was apt, simple & straight forward. Cinematic approach was less. Script flows like a biography. Dialogues were simple. Hardwork done by Kamal in researching J C Daniel was evident throughout. Direction was top notch.

On the whole a good movie on the lines of THIRAKKADHA, but a more realistic one & strictly one time watch to know who is J C Daniel

Verdict : Good
BO Verdict : Can't say, at max, a hit level

Family audiences, I don't think they'll enjoy these type in cinema halls other than in major centres. Another movie which will get appreciated for effort when watched on DVD by major Kerala audience